The Verdict
The simplest of the Tuscan bread soups — bread, tomato, basil, oil. Eat it in summer, when the tomatoes are ripe.
Why go
To taste the Tuscan cucina povera at its purest, in a Florence trattoria or a farmhouse.
What makes it worth going
The Tuscan bread and tomato soup, the summer cousin of the ribollita.
Things to do
- trattoria
Trattoria Sostanza (Florence)
The benchmark pappa al pomodoro, since 1869. The bread, the tomato, the basil, the oil. Reserve.
2 hrs
- farm
A Tuscan agriturismo
The pappa is made on the farm; the bread is the day-old, the tomatoes are the garden. The farm is the source.
half day
- experience
A Tuscan cooking class
The pappa is the lesson; the stale bread, the ripe tomatoes, the basil. The technique is the simplicity.
Eat
- soup
Pappa al pomodoro
The classic: day-old Tuscan bread, ripe tomatoes, garlic, basil, and olive oil, cooked into a thick soup. The bread dissolves; the tomato is the color; the basil is the perfume.
- pairing
With pecorino or a green salad
The companions; the cheese or the salad cut the rich tomato.
Stay
- neighborhood
Florence center
Near the best trattorias. Walkable.
- farm-stay
A Chianti agriturismo
In the hills, where the pappa is made on the farm.
Experiences Worth Booking
Tuscan peasant cooking class
3 hrsPappa al pomodoro, ribollita, panzanella. The bread-based Tuscan classics in one class.
The pappa is a bread soup; a class shows you the stale bread, the ripe tomatoes, and the cook.
Suits: Anyone who wants the Tuscan cucina povera at home.
What's nearby & pairs with
More food from Toscana
Cured Meat
Finocchiona
Tuscan fennel-seed salami — the everyday salume of Florence, coarsely ground and fragrant with wild fennel.
Dish
Bistecca alla Fiorentina
T-bone steak from Chianina beef, grilled over wood, served rare with nothing but salt and olive oil.
Dish
Pappardelle al Cinghiale
Wide egg pasta ribbons with wild boar ragù — the dish of the Tuscan hunting season.
Dish
Ribollita
Bread and bean soup with cavolo nero, reboiled (ribollita) until thick — the peasant dish of Tuscany.
Cheese
Pecorino di Pienza
Sheep's milk cheese from the Val d'Orcia — pecorino at its most varied, from fresh to aged and ash-rubbed.
Cured Meat
Lardo di Colonnata
Cured pork fatback, aged in marble troughs with herbs — the marble-quarry town's most singular product.
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